Lowly and coarse beginnings

Meaning

The lowly and still coarse beginning is the condition from which perfection must be sought, not a defective starting point to be bypassed by pretending the final result already exists. The author’s account of the great physician begins with separating what is superfluous and harmful to the intended work.

This first description of separation is broad: it includes the ordering of chaos and the removal of contrary impediments. The following paragraphs distinguish natural differences that remain connected from alien matter that must be removed. Lowly beginnings therefore do not entail cutting off every unlike part. The reading must follow the author’s refinement of his initial claim rather than take the opening formula as a complete definition.